Can't Miss Audiobooks

Sunil Malhotra’s reading brings to life the real life people of Annawaldi settlement, a slum precariously perched in the western suburbs of the India’s gigantic city of Mumbai. His accents and voicings give us a sense of the place and culture of this slice of humanity living in grinding poverty in one of India’s vast cities. (Recommended by Ellen B. - White Bear Lake)

All but one member of the Spain family lies dead, and it's up to Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy to find out why. Mick must piece together why their house is full of cameras pointed at holes in the walls and how a nighttime intruder bypassed all the locks.

Calm Irish voice for a story that gets progressively more tense and suspenseful. (Recommended by Karen B.)

Mantegna’s voice-acting chops are to the fore here in re-creating the hard-boiled dialog and doings of private investigator Spenser and his buddy Hawke as well as the recurring cast of thugs that you can’t help liking though you’d never want to meet them in a dark alley. (Recommended by Ellen B. - White Bear Lake)

Comic Nigel Planer wraps his vocal cords around Pratchett’s prose and lets fly with larger than life (and Death) characterizations that are the perfect complement to Pratchett’s smartly comic stories set in his Discworld universe. Guards, Guards would be a good choice. Another very fine reader of Pratchett’s books is Stephen Briggs who wields a Scottish brogue with a gusto not to be missed in Wee Free Men. (Recommended by Ellen B. - White Bear Lake)

Jeremy Irons starred in a movie adaptation of Nabokov’s famous novel. As the narrative voice of HumbertHumbert in this audio rendering of the novel, he is simply superb. (Recommended by Ellen B. - White Bear Lake)

Wodehouse’s humor scintillates in Cecil’s performance. He delivers the dialog in a snappy style reminiscent of the jazz age of the book’s setting. If you’ve not had the good fortune to experience Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster as read by Jonathan Cecil you've been missing out, old bean. (Recommended by Ellen B. - White Bear Lake)

Critt’s performance is as over the top as the stories themselves. (In a good way.) From Stephanie to Grandma Mazur; from Joe Morelli to Ranger; and across a large cast of Jersey regulars, Critt creates characterizations that keep the comedy coming in these wacky, wiffy doings of Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter. (Hoo, boy.) Start with One for the Money. (Recommended by Ellen B. - White Bear Lake)

Actor Tim Curry produces a tour-de-force of character voicing in this first volume of the Abhorson trilogy. From Sabriel, a young woman who has inherited the responsibility to keep the dead in the world of the dead; to Touchstone, a prince out of time; to Moggot, an enigmatic power presently embodied in a cat-shape, Curry masterfully recreates a wonderful world of magic forces in conflict over who will rule the world. Though this book can stand on its own – keep listening to the rest of the trilogy – Lirael, daughter of the Clayr and Abhorson. (Recommended by Ellen B. - White Bear Lake)

Author Neil Gaiman is as fine a storyteller in voicing his tales as he is in writing them. Try his Graveyard Book – it’s a kid’s book that can be enjoyed by adults. But when we say kid’s book… keep in mind that this is Gaiman so expect shadows and darkness – also given the title, you know it’s not going to be about butterflies and lollipops. (Recommended by Ellen B. - White Bear Lake)

Le Cirque des Rêves arrives suddenly and without warning--and it's only open at night. As young magicians Celia and Marco duel to see who is superior, neither realizes that only one will be left standing.

Dale, who read the Harry Potter books, is a true multi-voice genius. (Recommended by Karen B.)

The lovely voice of LisetteLecat brings to life MmaRamotse and the other characters of McCall Smith’s appealing series set in Botswana. The pacing and vocal expression transport the listener into this African world. (Recommended by Ellen B. - White Bear Lake)

Wonderful British actress who is just so easy to listen to. She has firm control of this sweeping story of a nineteenth century botanist who happens to be a woman in a male dominated world. (Recommended by Karen B.)

The warm baritone of veteran British actor Jim Broadbent brings us along on Harold’s progress toward a dying friend and a greater knowledge of himself. Broadbent’s exquisitely subtle vocal characterizations and inflections evoke Harold, his wife and the people he meets on his journey, effortlessly retaining the listener’s interest. (Recommended by Ellen B. - White Bear Lake)